This invention relates to an exercising appliance for therapeutic flexing of joints which have lost mobility due to an illness or injury or for the limbering of joints to enhance their utilization, as in sports or other physical activities. While the principles of operation and combination of elements of this invention are applicable to various joints of an animal body, the following disclosure primarily will deal with a hand exerciser for flexing the digits, either individually, or in unison, with or without flexing of the hand and/or the wrist.
Heretofore, hand and finger exercisers have been proposed. Rotating reciprocating and oscillating mechanisms are typified by the FINGER EXERCISER of Walls U.S. Pat. No. 1,707,151; the CONTROL AND OPERATING MEANS FOR PARALYZED HANDS of Robinson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,553,277; the SURGICAL CAST-SUPPORTED FINGER EXERCISER of DeMona U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,129, and the MECHANICAL HAND of Daniels et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,020,908. Each of these mechanisms is made up of rigid inflexible and cumbersome mechanical linkages. Cable drives have also been employed for hand exercisers as in the ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN HAND EXERCISER of Ketchum, U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,222; and the HAND EXERCISING DEVICE of Clark et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,912, this latter patent utilizing fluid pressure as the driving means. These types of devices are generally mounted in a fixed position for treatment and are complex, cumbersome and expensive such that they are not readily available to the patient other than at a treatment station such as a hospital or professional office. Fluid operated therapeutic exercisers of flexible material wherein air or other fluids are admitted to bladders to cause flexure of the appliance and the body elements to which it is applied, are shown in Canadian Pat. No. 735,700 to Vian for THERAPEUTIC GLOVE and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,581,740 to Sherbourne for INFLATABLE DEVICE FOR ARTHRITIC THERAPY and 3,937,215 to Barthlome for THERAPEUTIC HAND EXERCISER. Each of these appliances utilizes a bladder which is inflated to extend the bladder and exert tension on the body portions.